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Ukraine expects that the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce will issue its ruling on the dispute between National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine and Russia's energy giant Gazprom in 2016, said Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk during an annual press conference.
"We have started legal disputes with Gazprom related to two contracts ̶ the contract for gas sales and gas transit. Two lawsuits were filed in the Stockholm arbitration court," Yatsenyuk said.
"We expect that the final ruling of the Stockholm arbitration court will be issued in 2016. Ukraine is confident in its position with respect to the rightfulness of claims and that Russia will compensate Ukraine for billions of losses incurred in connection with unfair gas contracts," he said.
The prime minister noted that Ukraine had drafted four lawsuits against the Russian Federation in connection with the illegal annexation of Crimea and the violation of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
Read alsoNaftogaz to raise claims against Gazprom to almost $24 blnAs UNIAN reported earlier, the negotiations on settlement of the gas dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz began in early May 2014, in a trilateral format ̶ Ukraine, Russia and the European Union.
During the talks, Russia offered Ukraine a gas price of $385 per 1,000 cubic meters and a $100 discount on the contract price. However, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said Ukraine was unsatisfied with Moscow's offer. Kyiv demanded the price of $268 per 1,000 cubic meters ̶ the price at which Russia sold its gas to Ukraine in the first quarter of 2014.
In mid-June 2014, due to lack of progress in the talks, Naftogaz said it had filed a lawsuit against Gazprom with the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce seeking a fair and market-based price for Russian gas. In addition to a demand to revise the gas price, Naftogaz insisted on the payment of $6 billion for what it said were overpayments for gas since 2010.
On June 16, 2014 Gazprom announced it was suing Naftogaz in an international court over $4.5 billion of debts for gas delivered.
Read alsoNaftogaz increases amount of claims against GazpromUkraine also demands that Russia abandon its approach according to which the Kremlin sets the price by providing gas discounts usually in exchange for some political concessions from the Ukrainian authorities. Naftogaz insists on purely market mechanisms when setting a price for Russian gas.